Job offer at AA

All I can say is after 30 yrs I have to use advantage miles on vacations that are in the proper season. Now if I have designs on a good time in AMA - no problem.
 
Well DavStu thats everywhere in the Airline business, stay away...it's the worst career choice for anyone with half a brain.

My suggestion is to wait it out for a Government job, better pay, better benefits and a secure pension down the road.

My friend is working with the government as a CPA and he's constantly traveling on the taxpayer's tab. Here' s the kicker, his traveling expenses are all put on his airline mileage credit cards. So while he's flying first class, I'm fighting for an available seat in roach coach and he's using our tax money to do it..great scam, heh ?

Wow now thats's a job.. God bless the USA..
 
It escapes me why anyone with half a brain and who can read English would consider for even a second taking a job with AMR corporation--especially "for the travel benefits." Most of the time, the odds are that you are NOT getting on the airplane unless you are traveling to the ski resorts in the summer time and the beach in the middle of the winter--even then, no beaches that have beach weather (forget Hawaii, for instance).

As a flight attendant, if I am non-revving, I'm usually sitting on the jumpseat next to a working f/a who is less than thrilled that I am there. In September I worked the early flight from DFW to COS (Colorado Springs). Now, September is not high season for Colorado Springs. At 7:30 in the morning, there were 52 people on the standby list. They register and check-in for the first flight of the day, and then plan to spend the whole day at the airport in hopes of getting on one of the COS flights. It's pretty much that way for any desirable destination.

As far as whether the vaunted merger goes through or not, don't let anyone tell you what is or is not going to happen to your job. Odds are better than even that your job will be eliminated and someone who has been there longer than you will be retained, but even that is not certain. As a management employee, you are at "at will" worker. They can eliminate your job at any time. In the current bankruptcy reorganization, I know of at least 2 people with over 30 years credited service with AMR and who are real airline people that were shown the door and told "someone will wait here with you while you clean out your desk to make sure that you don't take any company property." Both of them were given zero notice that their jobs were being eliminated/given to someone else.
 
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Hmmm the finance department.

Isn't this where they know the cost of everything and the value of nothing?

Seems to me... ah, nevermind!

B)
 
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Considering that what I heard is that analysts at US Airways make considerably less than at American, in the case of a merger/like jobs and US being the controlling carrier, any double positions are in jeopardy. Most likely the US (cheaper) folks will stay and the AA ones will get their walking papers. Also since people are hired off the street at a higher rate of pay than internal pay scales, if you are going to be a financial analyst hired in at 65K-70K a year, the same person at US probably makes 40-45K per year. Keep that in mind. They could raise the US employee up to 50-55, and you would be shown the door at 65-70K
 
If decisions regarding analysts were based only on salary, you might have a point. But I doubt AA has been hiring in analysts at a rate 30% higher than what US is. I'd be shocked if the entry level salaries were off by more than 10% which is also reasonable given the lower cost of living in AZ.

In 2006, I might have agreed that there would be some companies offering a huge premium for recruiting. But for the past 4 years, there have been too many qualified people put into the job market, and that drives salaries down significantly. Back in 2008, I was able to hire programmers and DBAs for a good 25% less than what they'd have been able to ask for in 2006. Even the premium for hiring in a MBA seems to have evaporated.

The other reason I find those salary levels a bit hard to believe is that they're above what I remember is the cap for a L3, and close to max for a L4. You don't bring in someone above max unless they've got a seriously in-demand and unique skillset.

Outside recruited new-hires can be hired in at a higher rate of pay than someone who interviews and gets the job internally, but at the end of the pay scale, max is still the max. Anything above that requires approval from Executive Committee, which means a lot of attention from all EVP's, not just the CFO. And I don't think the head of airport services or purchasing is going to rubber-stamp bringing in finance people at 10% higher than what they can offer to fill their own vacancies.
 
Thanks again guys for the replies...

eolesen, I just have a quick question since you have worked for HQ... I interviews and talked to I think about 7 different managers and analysts when I was going through the interview process... They all have been there for a lot of time and all seemed like they can find a job somewhere else... why are they not leaving the company to go somewhere else if it is so bad there?
The reason those managers stay is that they have been rewarded with bonuses while the airline has gone to crap. These same managers are directly responsible for the decline of the airline. If they leave, the money train stops.
 
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As far as whether the vaunted merger goes through or not, don't let anyone tell you what is or is not going to happen to your job. Odds are better than even that your job will be eliminated and someone who has been there longer than you will be retained, but even that is not certain. As a management employee, you are at "at will" worker. They can eliminate your job at any time. In the current bankruptcy reorganization, I know of at least 2 people with over 30 years credited service with AMR and who are real airline people that were shown the door and told "someone will wait here with you while you clean out your desk to make sure that you don't take any company property." Both of them were given zero notice that their jobs were being eliminated/given to someone else.

The main reason I left AA was that I grew tired of waiting for the axe to fall. With this upcoming merger you could find yourself out of a job becasue of it. Or say you keep your job they could decide to relocate your position and tell you you have to move.
 
Interesting. At UA a retiree after 25 years had the best pass possible, by seniority.

At American, active employees and retirees have the same exact pass classifications for personal travel. Both enjoy unlimited D2 and four one way D1 passes per year. The only difference is that active pilots and flight attendants can use jump seats and retirees cannot.

While non-rev travel is not as easy as it was in the 80s and 90s, it is not quite as bad as jimntx would make it appear.
 
At American, active employees and retirees have the same exact pass classifications for personal travel. Both enjoy unlimited D2 and four one way D1 passes per year. The only difference is that active pilots and flight attendants can use jump seats and retirees cannot.

While non-rev travel is not as easy as it was in the 80s and 90s, it is not quite as bad as jimntx would make it appear.
Veritas,
Thanks for the reply. All airline pass policies are different. IIRC US Airways had a similar policy as United until after the merger where it went to active first and retiree last by seniority. IIRC CAL used to have Management first (by seniority), then Active (by seniority), then retirees. I don't believe I have ever flown free except for passes issued for not calling in sick. United offers free passes but you are absolutely last even behind ZED fares so good luck flying on that program.
If AA does merge with 'anyone' or not, the pass policy is dynamic and can be changed if the 'company' decides it necessary.
Unless your policies are in a CBA.
Just my 2 cents,
B) xUT
 

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